Snipocket · Search text in screenshots

How to search the text inside your screenshots

In shortmacOS and Windows save screenshots by file name, so Finder and File Explorer can't search what the image actually says. With Snipocket, every screenshot lands on a Shelf at the edge of your screen and the text inside it is recognized on your computer. Later, type two or three words you remember — “quote”, “rollback”, an order number — and the matching screenshots, screen recordings and PDFs appear, with the matched words highlighted.

Download for Mac — free Download for Windows — free See everything it does

Core features free forever · Pro free for 7 days · No account · Mac 9.5 MB · Windows 122 MB

A quote screenshot opened from Snipocket search, with Copy All Text and Select Text buttons in the toolbar

Real app, English interface: a screenshot found by searching “quote”, opened full size.

Get a screenshot back in three steps

Take screenshots as usualPress F1, drag a region and press Return (same on Mac and Windows). Screenshots taken with the system tools (⇧⌘4, Win+Shift+S) and images copied from chat apps are collected onto the Shelf automatically.

Let it read the text on your computerEach new item is recognized in the background within a few seconds. While the panel shows “Indexing”, it is still working — long videos and big batches take a little longer.

Search from the ShelfPress ⌥⌘S (Ctrl+Alt+S on Windows) to open the Shelf and type a few words you remember from the image into the search box at the top.

What it looks like

Typing “quote” in the Snipocket Shelf search box filters to the screenshots containing that word, with the match highlighted under each thumbnail — Type “quote”: every screenshot containing the word is filtered in. The line under each thumbnail shows where it matched, highlighted.

Then use what you found

Double-click a result to open it full size and make sure it's the right one
“Copy All Text” copies every word in the image; “Select Text” grabs just one area
Drag the thumbnail straight into a chat, email or document
Star the ones you'll need again — favorites are never auto-cleaned

Searching “rollback” finds a screen recording; the result shows the timestamp 0:05 where the word appears on screen — Search “rollback”: it matches words that appeared *on screen* in a recording, and shows when (0:05).

Searching “penalty” finds a PDF contract by a clause in its body text — Search “penalty”: the match is a clause inside a PDF contract, not its file name.

Screenshots, camera photos and images copied from chat apps
Screen recordings — frames are read as the picture changes, and results jump near that moment
Body text of PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, plain-text and code files
Long scrolling screenshots, recognized in chunks so text in the middle is found too

Tips for faster hits

Search for something unique to that image — an amount, an order number, a person or company — rather than generic words like “contract”
Separate words with a space to require all of them, e.g. “starlane quote”
Verification-code screenshots don't need searching: a banner appears at the top of the panel, click to copy the code
Can't remember any words? Filter by type (Image / Video / Documents) and scroll by date

Requirements and limits

System: macOS 13 or later (Apple silicon and Intel); Windows 10 1809 or later / Windows 11 (x64).
Recognition: Apple Vision on Mac; a bundled on-device engine (PP-OCRv5) on Windows. Nothing is uploaded and no internet connection is needed.
Only the Shelf is searched: screenshots from before you installed Snipocket don't appear until you drag them in.
Accuracy: drops with very small, blurry, tilted, covered or handwritten text; stylized lettering and text inside icons may not be recognized.
How many are kept: the Shelf keeps your latest 500 items by default (adjustable in Settings); older ones are cleaned up automatically, except favorites and documents.

What's free and what's Pro

Free forever

Screenshots, timed capture, full set of annotation tools
Copy and save with no watermark
Pins that float on top, click-through, hide all at once
Search by file name; view and drag out everything already on the Shelf

Pro (free 7-day trial, then a one-time purchase)

Search by the text inside images
Search text in recordings and PDF / Office documents
Auto-collect screenshots and copied images onto the Shelf
Text grab, QR scanning, smart redaction and more

The trial needs no account and nothing is deleted when it ends. Personal is $15 one-time for up to 3 devices — see pricing.

FAQ

Does it need the internet? Are my screenshots uploaded?

No and no. On Mac, text is recognized with Apple's built-in Vision framework; on Windows, Snipocket ships its own on-device engine (PP-OCRv5) and can fall back to Windows' built-in OCR. Recognition and the search index both stay on your computer, and everything works offline.

Can I search screenshots I took before installing Snipocket?

Only items on the Shelf are indexed. To add older screenshots, drag them onto the Shelf panel — they are recognized and become searchable just like new ones (drag-in import is a Pro feature, included in the free trial).

What if a search finds nothing?

Try a more distinctive word that appears in the image — an order number, a name, a company. Add a second word separated by a space to narrow it down. Tiny, blurry, tilted or handwritten text is recognized less reliably, and a screenshot taken a second ago may still show “Indexing” for a few seconds.

What happens when the trial ends?

Capturing, annotating, pinning, copying and saving stay free forever, and everything already on your Shelf is kept. Searching by the text inside images, searching recordings and documents, and auto-collecting screenshots are Pro features that continue after a one-time purchase.

Already use CleanShot X or another capture tool? See how Snipocket works alongside CleanShot X — and on Windows.

Screenshot it once. Find it by what it says.

Core features free forever · Pro free for 7 days · One-time purchase · No account

Download for Mac — free Download for Windows — free